Sensitive Chelsea stars didn’t like ‘rubbish’ jibes from Jose Mourinho – with John Terry explaining why ‘Special One’ struggled during second spell at Stamford Bridge

The outspoken Portuguese, who billed himself as ‘The Special One’ when first arriving in England back in 2004, made a shock return to Stamford Bridge in 2013 after enjoying more trophy triumphs with Inter and Real Madrid.

He did guide the Blues to another Premier League title in 2014-15 – the third crown captured across his two stints in west London – but left by mutual consent a matter of months after those celebrations were enjoyed.

Mourinho has always been famed for his man-management, but Terry claims that his methods began to rub some players up the wrong way. The former Chelsea captain has told talkSPORT: “A lot of people said he was different the second time. I think the big difference when he came back was players were different. In that first year 2004-05, he could have said to me, Lamps [Frank Lampard], Didier [Drogba] or anyone in the squad, you’ve been rubbish basically, you need to be better. That second time around, players were different.

“It was probably that generation of the players were just starting to kind of go the other way where they didn’t like being told what they were bad at. They wanted a pat on the back all the time. So in terms of him, I don’t think he was different. I think the group was different and I think he was still very much, ‘This is how I coach, this is how I manage, I’ve been very successful this way. Why would I change? Everyone has to follow me’. And also, I agree with him.”

Terry was always a loyal follower of Mourinho, alongside several other iconic figures that played some of their best football under the Portuguese, but times have changed and he can no longer behave as he once did. At 62 years of age, Mourinho is now working in Turkey with Super Lig giants Fenerbahce – where he continues to make plenty of headlines.